After a reasonably early departure from Ypres we drove the 50 mins to Ghent, a former city-state in the Middle Ages, now a university town packed with interesting medieval architecture.

We left the motorhome at the city’s only overnight parking spot (looked very secure!) and caught a bus into the city centre. Our tour started, of course, with a good lunch overlooking the river – Ghent now has a reputation for quality veggie food, the two dishes we tried certainly seemed to support that.

We then followed a self-guided walking tour which took in many of the impressive buildings around the city.

Got to the Eurotunnel terminal no problems and they managed to fit us on an earlier train. After a smooth 35 minute ride we arrived in Calais, drove next door to Cité Europe and spent an hour or so in the supermarket to fill up the van with all the food we were not allowed to bring in from the UK!

We drove east for just over an hour, crossing the Belgium border and arriving in the town of Ypres (or Ieper, depending on your language preference). We had booked a pitch at Camping Jeugdstadion, a site within easy walking distance along the old city walls and the river to the town centre. In the central square is the Cloth Hall, a huge gothic building used as a cloth market dating back to 1304.

The main attraction for most in the town is the Menen Gate, a massive British War Memorial built to remember those lost in the Great War, inscribed with over 54000 names of soliders who were unable to be given a proper funeral. Every night at 8pm ever since the end of the Great War (with a gap only during the 2nd World War) a Last Post ceremony has been held. It seems to be well attended by the public and very moving with wreath laying from various visitors (from Australia and New Zealand in this instance) and three bugles sounding the Last Post.

We are off to Europe at last – but first a stop at the Pig restaurant near Canterbury for a very impressive lunch to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary (38!). The building has the air of an old stately home set in large grounds with its own kitchen gardens. Highly recommended.

We are now safely tucked up in the Motorhome section of the Canterbury P&R just up the road and will be heading for the Eurotunnel terminal first thing in the morning.